


I'm not going outside

by smartlike



Category: Powers (Comics)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-09-15
Updated: 2013-09-15
Packaged: 2017-12-26 14:37:22
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 684
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/967110
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/smartlike/pseuds/smartlike
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Deena calls three times in the first two days that Walker spends locked inside his house. She leaves messages that alternate between babbling about lunatics roaming the street and halting awkwardness and all three contain several curse words. Walker would smile at that but he just erases the messages and finishes the bottle of Jack he found in the cupboard over the stove.</p>
            </blockquote>





	I'm not going outside

**Author's Note:**

> The character death is canon - Zora. (sadface)
> 
> Originally posted at http://www.obsessivetendencies.net/am/

Walker has an entire lifetime of things he doesn't think about, so it's not as though this is any different. Of course, this time it's a person and not just something he did or didn't do or should have done differently. It shouldn't matter, though, because now that he's not a cop or a superhero, he's adding responsibility to the list of things not to think about.

*

Deena calls three times in the first two days that Walker spends locked inside his house. She leaves messages that alternate between babbling about lunatics roaming the street and halting awkwardness and all three contain several curse words. Walker would smile at that but he just erases the messages and finishes the bottle of Jack he found in the cupboard over the stove.

*

He dreams of a wedding, everyone in black and Zora floating down the aisle with a veil over her face. Triphammer is hovering at the back of the room and Retro Girl and Johnny Royale and other people who Walker has no reason to know anymore. Collette McDaniel's there, microphone clutched in one hand and a pair of goggles over her eyes. 

It takes Walker almost a full minute to realize that Zora's going backwards and not coming towards him at all and he opens his mouth to say something, but only air rushes between his lips. She pauses at the end of the rows of seats and throws the bouquet. 

Walker forces himself awake and sits up in bed, the image of dark red roses flying through the air burned into his eyes.

*

Deena calls once a week for the first three months and then once every other week and then just once a month. Walker never answers, but he listens to the messages. He's not sure why, but it's something to fill the silences. He doesn't talk much anymore.

*

The television gets broken during an episode of _The Powers That Be_. Another expose on another Powers guy, not someone Walker knew from before or from when he was a cop, which he guesses could also qualify as before. Everything's "before", now. 

He's eating a frozen dinner, Salisbury steak that tastes like cardboard and corn that tastes like the inside of a freezer and the kid-- because that's all he is, some kid, dressed up in a cape and Walker doesn't even remember how it feels to think that's a good idea. The kid says something about "sordid pasts" and "illicit secrets" and the conscending tone in his voice when he says "Retro Girl" makes Walker's teeth ache and the next thing he really knows is that he's standing in front of a television with a crack across the screen. There's corn scattered all over his rug, the room smells like electricity and there's something warm and wet on his knuckles.

He doesn't buy a new t.v.

*

If anyone asks-- and as far as Walker knows, they don't-- he's writing a book. He took the money, he bought the gleaming white paper and put it in the printer that's attached to the computer that he also bought. Every morning he turns the machine on and stares at a blank screen. He goes over the list of things his agent suggested he write about and compares it with the list of things he still thinks about. When he's done, there's not much left on the first list, so Walker turns off the computer and settles himself on the couch in front of the broken television. Mostly, what all this means is that Walker is not writing a book, so it's good that no one asks.

Deena calls again, the third time this week, and leaves a message about a suspect and a murder. She's swearing again. Walker's stomach growls. He hasn't eaten since yesterday morning, so he makes toast and eggs and the headline on the newspaper says "fear" in big black letters. He spills orange juice on it and the letters bleed together. He eats breakfast at the table and tries to convince himself he's not waiting for Deena to call again.


End file.
